Jude Magnotti ‘26
EE Sports Columnist
Throughout the course of NBA history, the NBA has always prided itself on two things: The NBA finals, and All-Star Weekend. However, in recent years, the once esteemed and prestigious event that is All-Star Weekend has turned into nothing more than a joke for Adam Silver and the rest of the NBA to make a quick buck off of.
This year proved to be no exception. Once magnificent duels in the dunk contest between Aaron Gordan and Zach Lavine, have now been replaced by a horrendous mishmash of missed dunks, basic ideas, and poor judging. Where we once had the privilege of viewing fights to the death between Kobe and LeBron during the all star game, those have now been replaced by a lackadaisical nightmare of watching 6 foot 7 men casually get their cardio in with 20,000 people watching.
After dominating the dunk contest the previous year, Mac Mcclung (while still electric) was unable to maintain the same wow factor that he had last year. After his incredible first dunk was only rated a 48 by the judges, it sucked the energy right out of the entire arena. Fans no longer cheered for even the best dunks in the contest, and McClung no longer had the energy in him to deliver the same showstoppers he delivered last year. Despite this, McClung still managed to win with a 50 on his final dunk (which was ironically his worst one) and repeated as dunk contest champion once again.
The problem with the dunk contest itself is not necessarily the format or even the judges. The main problem is the players that participate in it. With McClung’s victory, it marked the tenth straight year that a non all-star won the dunk contest. No star player is going to risk injury participating in the dunk contest for a measly 250,000 dollars.
If the NBA wants to save the dunk contest, not only do they need to invent more creative twists to put on the contest, they need to offer more money to give more star players incentive to participate in it. Several players such as Ja Morant are on record as saying they would participate in the contest if given a million dollars for winning.
That money is penny change for the NBA and it would go a long way to revitalize a once glorious event. As for the actual all-star game itself, I am not sure if there is anything that the NBA can do to save it. Despite being advertised as the “The greatest pickup game of all time”, players no longer put forth any effort into the competition.
They casually run around hoisting up half court threes and throwing lobs. While these highlight plays seem fun in theory, they are completely useless without meaningful competition. This year the NBA saw some of the lowest viewership numbers for the NBA all-star game that it had ever seen.
Fans don’t want to see Jokic faking dunks and Haliburton doing flashy passes. They want to see the players put forth even half the effort they would play with in a regular game but unfortunately this is just no longer a possibility. The all-star game atmosphere is no longer the same as it once was and players are no longer willing to risk injury by putting in the effort it takes to compete for a game that is completely meaningless.
If the NBA wants to save the all-star game, they must –similar to the dunk contest–give the players real incentive to play hard. They need to create cash prizes, brand deals, and charity events as motivators for the players to regain the same competitive spirit they once played with. If the NBA keeps letting the all star game go down this spiral I doubt they will even HAVE an all star game in the future.
With all that being said, all-star weekend still came with a few bright spots. For one, the three point contest is as electrifying as ever. The NBA has consistently gotten the best shooters to participate year after year and the money ball racks and stray balls add a fun twist to the competition.
This year’s repeat champion, Damian Lillard, was able to take full advantage of that twist by making good on his money ball rack which helped him win his back-to-back title. The skills competition (while extremely basic) is still fun to watch to a certain degree and seeing Ant brick threes off the backboard with his left hand will never get old.
Additionally, I have to give the NBA credit: The Steph vs. Sabrina three point shooting contest was a phenomenal idea. Not only were each of the players able to raise money for their respective charity, but the hype that the players went into the competition with turned out to be completely worth it.
Sabrina held her own, going 9 for 10 on her first two racks before cooling down on her 3rd and 4th ones. She ended the round with a score of 26, which would have been good enough for first place in the regular three point contest. What made her feat even more impressive was not only that she had not played a WNBA game for months, but that she was shooting from NBA three point range.
Unfortunately for her though, Steph Curry is still a god in a shooter’s body and Curry scored a 29 to beat Sabrina and maintain his crown as the best shooter to ever walk the earth.
Nevertheless, these bright spots in the competition cannot keep all-star weekend going alone. Some fans have gone as extreme to call for the events to be removed entirely. If the NBA wants to keep one of their biggest sources of revenue going, all they have to do is one simple thing: LISTEN TO THE FANS!
When it comes to sports (and all-star weekend in particular) the fans know what they want. If Adam Silver actually listened to what the community was saying instead of his business advisors, then he would know that it is only for the fans that all-star weekend exists in the first place.
We have already seen what has happened to the NFL pro bowl. Unless the NBA wants to face the exact same fate, they need to start making changes FAST. For the fans, for the players, but most importantly, for the sport of basketball as a whole.